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Progress
Repairing Street Lights/Intersection Signals
Updated on 1/16/2012
City of Minot street lights and intersection signals were damaged in the 2011 flood. City engineers identified at least 22 electrical hub feed points for lights and signals impacted by the Mouse River.
In order to expedite repairs and better facilitate FEMA reimbursement or assistance from federal and/or state dollars to fix the affected lights and signals, the City divided the repairs into two separate categories:
1) Local streets, which are city-maintained roads and
2) Federal aid roads, which are those roads that are largely supported by budgets outside of the City of Minot.
Local Street Lighting
With the help of CDM Smith, a disaster consultant hired to assist with recovery, City of Minot crews began work in August identifying the areas impacted and preparing documents necessary to bid out the project to an electrical company. In November 2011, the Minot City Council approved a $31,000 contract with Main Electric of Minot to repair the eight feed points that serve 58 lights or pedestrian crossing flashers. As of early January 2012, the contractor was able to repair all but 10 of these lights/flashers.
The lights being worked on as part of this project include the following areas:
⢠South side of old 8th St. NW Bridge,
⢠Alley between 7th St. and 8th St. NW,
⢠7th Ave. and 24th St. SW,
⢠3101 Valley St.,
⢠North side of ND State Fairgrounds and
⢠South side of ND State Fairgrounds.
CDM and the City of Minot are working on recommendations for a new scope of work to get the repairs done on unrepaired lights outside of the initial design as quickly as possible.
Federal Aid Road Lighting/Intersection Signals
Work to permanently fix lighting and intersection signals on federal aid roads reached an important step in early January 2012. It has taken several months to organize data related to the level of damage along these roads, including, intersection signals, street lights, roads, curbs, landscaping and other elements. After compiling this information, the City along with CDM and Kadrmas, Lee and Jackson (a local engineering firm) submitted a project proposal to the ND Department of Transportation and the U.S. Federal Highway Administration. This proposal, in this particular format, is necessary to ensure maximum opportunity for reimbursement or support from FEMA and Federal Highway funds. This project would include work on 17 feed points that are hubs for more than 200 lights along roads like Burdick Expressway, 16th St., 4th Ave. and others.
The City expects to be able to bid out the street light and intersection signal portion of the project this spring, pending funding approval.
Intersection Signal Repairs
This summer, after travel was allowed in flood-impacted areas, the City took necessary steps to make intersections where lights or feed boxes were under water as safe as possible.
10 of the 51 intersection signals maintained by the City of Minot were damaged as a result of the flood. Of these 10 systems, four are on a temporary four-way red flashing light, one is currently a four-way stop (with stop signs), two have been repaired to working condition and three have been covered (temporarily out of service). The decision to handle the signals in this fashion was made in the interest of driving safety at these intersections.
The red flashing four-way stops cannot be changed to fully operational mode; the metal boxes and the wiring within them were damaged beyond repair and need to be fully replaced to restore the signals. The repairs will be initiated in the spring, when the weather is more conducive to repairs.
Did You Know?
The City of Minot's street lighting system consists of both Xcel Energy-owned lights and City-owned lights. There are currently about 1,100 Xcel lights and 2,000 City lights in the system. Also, approximately 330 lights in the City's street lighting system are Verendrye Electric-owned lights. For the majority, the lights maintained and owned by the City are on metal posts.
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